


Execute

by UnapologeticallyMeatwad



Category: Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008) - All Media Types
Genre: Confessions, Gen, Sad Ending, Sociopath Anakin Skywalker, Trapped In A Closet
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-22
Updated: 2019-09-22
Packaged: 2020-10-26 07:49:53
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,173
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20738768
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/UnapologeticallyMeatwad/pseuds/UnapologeticallyMeatwad
Summary: Hot on the tail of Darth Sidious, Anakin and Ahsoka are overtaken when a small sample of Order 66 reprograms their troop of Clones.





	Execute

**Author's Note:**

  * For [LittleRaven](https://archiveofourown.org/users/LittleRaven/gifts).

They were so close.

Had Anakin just reached out, he might have been able to influnnce the Force into gripping Darth Sidious' wavering cloak, and reel him back into the room. But as it stands, Sidious escaped and a ten meter thick metal door closed the gap between them.

"There's still time! Don't panic! We'll get him!" Anakin shouts, turning back to his troops. "Skips, break that damn door down. Clones, back her up incase we have something ugly waiting on the other side, I'll see if I can mess with this computer."

Ahsoka dashes past Anakin, both of her lightsabers already ignited, already positioned to cut through the iron. She didn't need the orders, this sort of thing is routine by now. Bad guys are always escaping last second, and they always use the same doors to seal themselves off. It's foolish really.

Ahsoka jabs the sabers into the metal, laser buzzing in and not stopping until the door catches on the hilt, and she twists, heaving the sabers with all of her might. The iron lights up into orange, drizzling down the sides and pooling onto the floor.

Anakin smiles and immediately begins smashing everything he can on the big computer's keyboard. It's tactless; but it's what the Jedi don't like which means it's probably a good idea. Early into the sequencing though — there's an issue. The computer screen goes black and this horrible screech fills the air.

"Anakin, can you shut that damn thing off!?" Ahsoka shrieks over from the door.

"Uh… no?" Anakin growls. How is he supposed to know how to do that? He just pressed buttons, it's a tried and true method! Infact, he would make that joke if it were possible to be heard over the stupid banshee wailing… there.

He smashes one of the metal boxes with his saber, completely silencing the screeching. He smiles to himself and sets back to work, but pauses as he notices that in the midst of that cacophony, all the Clones retreated from Ahsoka's flank and are now surrounding Anakin, their heads craned up towards the screen.

"Guys, what are you doing?" Anakin frowns. "Get outta here! Help Ahsoka!"

The Clones do nothing and remain perfectly still, as if their general weren't barking orders at them. Anakin offers a quick look to the screen, and while the neon green light is fascinating, it's not like the Clones are idiotic enough to be moths to a flame. Though there is some neat writing going across the screen that kind of looks like it's in Kimono. Some kind of code maybe?

Anakin bashes the keyboard again, but no matter how much he batters the damned thing, the green screen with the odd writing doesn't go away, and the Clones won't move. Giving up on his plan, he looks over to Ahsoka in a panic. She's halfway through cleaving a hole out of the door, though Anakin wonders if she would move faster if she weren't trying to do both sabers at once, but first he needs to handle the Clones.

"Hey, I know you guys don't like me as much as Obi-Wan," Anakin throws his hands on his hips, immediately hearing Ahsoka scoff over in the background. God, Ahsoka is lucky he is not as stern as Obi-Wan. "But you have to listen to me! Cover Ahsoka! We have a Sith Lord on the other end of that door and — "

"Sorry, General Skywalker."

" — and we have to be armed and… _sorry_? Uh." He scratches his head, unable to suppress a nervous smile. This just got weird. "Okay! Apology accepted, Captain Needa?"

But apparently an apology wasn't what Captain Needa wanted, because he's pointing his blaster at Anakin's chest.

It's sort of offensive to assume your old pal, Captain Needa, is about to shoot you, but Anakin still throws his body off to the side and luck be a lady tonight, he doesn't get killed… but the Clone does shoot his metallic arm right off the joint, and with that, his saber.

"Skips! A little help here!" he calls back, as all six Clones simultaneously raise their blasters at Anakin.

Ahsoka's too slow on the draw though, and too far away anyways, to be of any help. So the best Anakin can do in the face of six blasters is put his faith in the Force. He bobs in and out, and the lasers volley all around him, shimmering the air they pass through. It might be the closest he has ever played it to his chest. As he tries to feel the Force, the air molecules erupt as the blaster bolts pass through. It makes it hard for him to get a grip on anything, to focus. But he is Anakin Skywalker and this is not how he dies. Not even close.

Meanwhile, his metal arm lifts off the floor and pivots, tossing the lightsaber across the room and into his waiting hand.

By the time the Clones all aim for their fourth volley, Anakin is armed and lunging at them. His lightsaber spins through the air, light as a feather, deflecting all six bolts, the spin culminating into a beheading of the first Clone that Anakin can get his mitts on.

"Anakin! No!" He is pretty Ahsoka is screaming at him from halfway across the room, but that isn't going to stop him. These guys just tried to kill him, and he is not negotiating some peaceful thing right now. He swings for a second time. A third time. A fourth time. By the time Ahoska reaches his side, the Clones are all piled into a smoking heap.

Before Ahsoka can say anything, Anakin chimes in with, "Don't tell me I should have let them live so we could interrogate one. They're scum and deserved to die." It comes out as a very gutteral sound. Sort of raspy. Even his own voice scares him sometimes.

"No," Ahsoka moans. "I was — I was gonna say, who do you think they work for?"

"They work for _us_," Anakin growls, gesturing over at the screen. "Whatever is on that — it's some kind of kill switch I think. Can you read Kimono?"

Ahsoka grits her teeth. She's still in shock. After all these years, she still pales at these sorts of things. Ridiculous really, seeing how she's seen Clones go rogue plenty of time. "Kind of? I don't know, Obi-Wan is a lot better at it than I am…"

Ugh. Obi-Wan. Anakin nearly rolls his eyes. "Well, Obi-Wan's not here."

A long silence. It takes Anakin a little too long to realize that Ahsoka's been staring at him, waiting for him to look at her. When their eyes meet, she nearly spits, "_I know that._"

* * *

Ahsoka is not scared of the Clones going rogue; she's scared of Anakin. Scared of what he is becoming. Not that she would ever tell him that or anything. Lowkey kind of awkward to do that.

She carefully reads the Kimono writing, which is difficult with Anakin breathing down her neck. Kimono is hard. The symbols are so tiny and squished together. Like, does that etching next to that other etching mean two different things, or do they come together to form one meaning?

"I don't recognize the words, but I think there's a number. 66," she casts over her shoulder.

"66," Anakin repeats. "What does that tell us?"

"Dunno," she shrugs.

"Great."

"Hey! I tried at least!" she whirls on him fast, a little fed up with his attitude today. "Anyways, Sidious is long gone by now. I think we should head back to the ship and get out of here fast."

Anakin furrows his brow. "We've got two guys back at the ship though."

She puts her hands on her hips. "So?"

"Um…" Anakin shakes his head, inadvertently mimicking her tone. "They might have gone bad too."

"They didn't see the signal though."

"They might have. I don't know where else it broadcast," Anakin folds his arms together. "If we go back, those Clones are going to act like nothing happened, and then kill us when we last suspect it."

God, why does he have to be so morose? Have some faith. The Clones are good people, friends even. Possibly family. She kind of gets killing that pack of six because well — close range proximity never leaves you with many options. But now they have foresight. They already know it's an issue that there's this wonky code that turns Clones evil or whatever. They can fix that.

"Let's call them over to us and get it over with," Ahsoka presses on her earpiece.

Anakin reaches forward to stop her, but it's too late. She's already talking to the Clones, and boy, does she relish in it.

"Hello boys. We missed our shot at Big S. A few men down, can you come here and reconnoiter? We need a new plan."

* * *

"Mmph mmph mm. Ana—"

"Skips, be quiet — OW! Don't bite me, okay?"

"Anakin, you're paranoid. You are going to feel real stupid when we talk to Commander Rello and it turns out he isn't like — changed by the hivemind or whatever you think."

"No way. He's going to stomp by us in fifteen seconds and report back to Dafron that he hasn't killed us yet. I'll be right, and you'll be wrong, but you need to _shut up_…"

"Okay, well don't put your hand there then…"

"Fine."

Anakin still doesn't trust Ahsoka to not barge out of the closet, and probably send all the janitorial supplies cascading to the floor in a flood, but when he hears the footsteps of the incoming Clone Trooper, it's too late to be messing around. If they get caught in here, they will die. Their bodies are pressed so tightly together, and under such dim lighting, it'd be hard to tell whose leg is whose if they weren't different species.

"Lieutenant Dafron…" the Clone says from the other end of the door, his shadow reflecting into the floor tiles below the lip of the door. "I have no sights on General Skywalker or Ahsoka. Other units aren't responding, It's possible they have already been taken care of. Be on guard."

Anakin feels a shuffling kick against his knee, but he keeps his neck craned high so he can stretch his head against the wall. Despite everything, he smiles to himself, and when the footsteps of the rogue unit fade into the distance, he turns back to Ahsoka to rub it in her face that he was right, and she was —

— sad? Ahsoka is sad. Forlorn even. She bows her head and lets out a deep breath, all the while shaking her head. "Well — you were right, Anakin. You happy? You want to rub it in?"

"Skips…" Anakin sighs. "I'm upset about the Clones too, but you know, sometimes these things happen and you just gotta laugh and make jokes, right?"

She bites her lip and looks away. "Yeah, whatever."

He frowns. What is she so upset about? He's right, he just knows he is. Maybe it's because she hasn't been a Jedi as long as him or something. It's possible he used to get upset about this sort of thing back in the day but… well, he is happy he grew out of it. The world moves too fast to feel sorry for people anymore.

"Hey, could you help me with something?" Anakin asks carefully.

"What?" Ahsoka looks back, already suspicious.

Anakin lifts his stub of an arm into the air, letting the mechanical piece roll down his bicep. "It's kinda hard to put this thing on by myself."

* * *

When Anakin flops his prosthetic arm onto her lap, Ahsoka doesn't really react too much. It's not the first time she's had to reattach it for him, what with all the circuitry and everything. But when she holds it up in the air, and sees the burn mark digging through the metal panelling, she hesitates.

This hand has been used to kill people, sometimes — sometimes senselessly…

Anakin doesn't try to find answers anymore, he just sticks with what he knows.

True that he didn't use _this_ arm to kill those Clone Troopers, he hardly needs his full strength anymore. But something about holding this murderous instrument in her two hands is surreal, especially with his eyes widening at her toying with the thing.

"Um… yeah, they shot it up pretty bad," Anakin says, with some sort of assumption that she's been focusing on the burn mark, which is partly true. "It doesn't hurt or anything, though I am getting phantom pains like crazy. So uh… if you don't mind?"

Giving the arm back to him will help him kill more effectively. Again, it's an irrational thought. He is strong enough to guide his lightsaber through the air with the Force. But still. Six are dead. It could be eight if she lets him do as he pleases.

"Skips…" Anakin tilts his head to the side in mild irritation. "Uh…"

Something catches Ahsoka's eye. It's this golden glint coming from the ring finger. She lowers it down to eye level and really focuses on it. It looks like some kind of nut… gold, huh? Maybe a part of Threepio?

"Skips, don't…"

It's too round for Threepio, it has to be —

— she almost drops it when she finally gets what it is —

"Hey, careful with that!" Anakin snaps, catching before it sustains more damage from the floor. His eyes narrow. "You sure you're up to this?"

"Anakin," Ahsoka leans in, which is maybe a bit much given how tightly they are already pressed together, but something about getting closer makes sense right now. "You're married?!"

Anakin's eyes freeze up in horror, something seizes his chest, and all the trails from his mouth is a dull, "Uuuuuuh…"

"Uuuuuuuh yeah, Anakin!" Ahsoka almost screams, utterly scandalized. "H-how long? Who? _How _in general?!"

Anakin sucks in his chest, probably crafting a good story to tell her, but ultimately, he slumps over, utterly disappointed — probably in himself.

"Since the start of the war. Padme. And I don't know — I'm a charming guy, right?

This does not make sense. "How could moody, broody Anakin get — get married — and — " She catches him about to interrupt so she jabs a finger into the air, almost striking him in the forehead. " — _why?_ The Jedi don't allow — "

"Well, I started the whole Jedi thing late I guess," Anakin shrugs. "Listen, you can't tell anyone about this."

"Who knows?"

"Just you — and Padme, obviously."

"Don't joke about this!" This time Ahsoka bangs Anakin on the head with the prosthetic. She rattles it up and down with the bounce of her anger. "I don't even know who you anymore! I thought you — I know you like being a rebel but this — _this _— this is a lot."

"I know it's a lot," Anakin sighs. "I think about it every day, if you can imagine."

"Wow," she shakes her head. "Wow wow wow. You're married?"

"Yes."

"To a Senator."

"Hoo wee. But yes."

"And the Jedi have no knowledge?"

He smirks at her slyly. "Uh oh."

She reaches forward and swats him on the cheek. "Don't use that look with me, Mister — save it for — save it for Padme." She flops back, the limp mechanical wrist ploomping onto her forehead. "Anakin — obviously you already thought of this — but Padme's political career could be ruined over something like this! And you — you could get excommunicated."

"Yeah, yeah," he sneers, propping his leg up on her knee, resting an elbow over the joint. "It's funny, Skips. You're not actually mad at me for — " _"I'm pissed!"_ " — yeah, I know, let me finish. You're not mad at me because of my rejecting _the Jedi way_. You're as bad of a seed as I am."

Ahsoka considers that, but then shakes her head. "I think it's a dumb rule, but it's not a risk I would ever take."

"Well if you're such a fan of it — " Anakin stretches his leg. " — excommunicate me and stuff."

"No."

"No?"

"No!" she shakes her head. "Come on, task at hand. Okay? We need to get out of here. We have two Clone Troopers and — "

Anakin swats her conversation aside. "What? It's _two Clone Troopers, _Skips. We just kill 'em. Easy."

Ahsoka shakes her head. What happened to him? Why is he so nonchalant about all this? "They're our friends and I at least want to try curing them of — whatever just happened, okay?"

"I don't want to, and it's my rules, Skips," Anakin sneers like a little kid.

Ahsoka looks into her lap. It's where she holds the mechanical arm but that's not really the focus. There has to be a way to for once in her life convince Anakin that she's got the moral high ground over him. She just knows Obi-Wan or Yoda or hell — even Mace freakin' Windu — would side with her over this. But she's alone and upset; when she is upset she gets weaker, when Anakin gets upset he gets stronger. It's a bad inverse dynamic in their friendship.

Then inspiration strikes.

"Hey, if you're so trigger happy," she says with some brevity. "You get one, and I get one. You kill, I — um — render unconscious. Fair?"

He doesn't seem convinced. His face scrunches up, probably trying to work out how he can say no without sounding like a freakin' sociopath.

"Splitsies with Skipsies!" she adds on cheerfully.

Anakin remains in this cold, hard stare for a long time. But eventually, his wry expression falls into a gentle smirk. "Splitsies with Skipsies, huh?" he repeats. "Okay. Done. Now… my hand?

She looks back at the mechanical piece. For some reason, she doesn't want to give it back just yet. "I need to rewire some things, it got pretty fried. I'll have it done by the time we get back to our ship. Is that okay?"

Anakin flashes her his most suspicious of looks, but probably decides it's not worth arguing over. So he shrugs.

* * *

Anakin kills his Clone Trooper early, which puts him in a bad mood because it means he has to follow Ahsoka for the rest of the trip. It's probably a good thing, though she wishes that they had time to stop to check his dog-tag and see which one he was. But maybe it's better to not know?

When they reach their ship, the last Clone Trooper stands before it, armed and ready. The sky is a blood orange, horizon showing very little. It's a remote planet that Sidious was based off of. This mountain they've been in — who knows how they dug into this thing to build the lair — is the only thing anyone can really see from here. It's the kind of place to have a final duel with someone. But that's not on Ahsoka's bucket list.

When Ahsoka emerges from the shadows, hands in the air, the Clone doesn't hesitate in pointing his blaster at her chest. There are no false pretenses here after all.

"I know that you're not really yourself right now," Ahsoka says carefully. "I want to talk this through — "

"I am myself," the Clone snaps back. "New directive. Don't get closer."

"Why? Will you shoot me?" Ahsoka drops her hands, lazily draping one against her hip. "Just shoot me now if that's your prerogative."

A pause, and then the blaster lights up. "Okay—"

Ahsoka's eyes shoot wide open. "Wait, I didn't mean like—"

_Bang!_

The Force urges her to duck low, so she does and just barely evades the blaster bolt. She ignites just one of her sabers and darts at the Clone, carefully deflecting his blasts so that they don't ricochet back into him. It's harder than it sounds of course, all the while, she tries pushing the blaster out of his hands. After six successful evasions, she knocks it free.

Of course this happens to be the Clone Trooper with the laser baton. He pulls it out and smashes it into her defending lightsaber. "Where's General Skywalker?" he spits.

"He's — "

"Behind you," Anakin grunts from behind, because of course he just _has_ to slip in when things go a little off her plan. His blue lightsaber twirls and the Clone matches it. Meanwhile, Anakin's eyes dart from Ahsoka's saber to the Clone's back, like, _hey idiot, why don't you kill him already?_ but — but — no, she's not doing that. She sheathes her saber and looks at Anakin like a disappointed mother might.

Anakin scoffs at her, and in his brief hubris, gets overtaken fast. The Clone smashes against Anakin's blade so hard that he manages to edge the boy closer to falling off the ledge. But Anakin gets a hold of things and with some help from the Force, drags the Clone off the edge instead.

"No—" Ahsoka screams, rushing forward. Maybe if she gets there soon enough, it won't be too late to drag the fallen Clone back up with the Force — but when Anakin's hand claps to her chest, she is at the edge and knows it's over. She wrenches him off her, ready to launch into a tirade when he presses a finger to her lips.

"He's fine, okay?" Anakin says with some agitation, rolling his eyes towards what is straight below them and out of sight. Ahsoka leans past the edge and sees the Clone hanging off of some pipe below. Ahsoka eyes Anakin carefully and through gritted teeth hisses, "Get him."

"Yeah yeah," Anakin groans, flipping off the edge, using one arm to lower himself down. He's remarkably close to the Clone, but when he reaches out, he pauses and then raises his stub to eye level. "Right. No arm. Hey! Skips?"

She narrows her eyes. He's smiling. It's not a good smile though. But what choice does she have? So she bends down and carefully hands the rewired appendage to him. Using the Force, he levitates it over his stub and after a few seconds it attaches. He clenches his fingers to check that it's connected and reaches down again. He groans when the Clone grabs on, and she notices his fingers slip a centimeter closer to the edge.

It's not like he'll fall off — but he is playing it close to the chest, and the grunts of pain sound genuine. Things should be smooth sailing from here.

But when Anakin raises the Clone to his chest, he drops them low again. He looks down at them and kicks their helmet. "Take it off. Now. I want to look into your eyes when you tell me what's going on."

Ahsoka leans over the edge. "Anakin, that's a bit — "

"Quiet!" he barks, then looks back to the Clone. "Helmet."

The Clone droops over for a moment, and then with one flailing hand, frees the thing. It tumbles off his shoulder and plummets into the abyss. His bald face looks up at Anakin with nothing more than contempt.

"Now — " Anakin gloats. " — what happened? Why are you trying to kill us all of a sudden?"

The Clone shakes his head. "Over my dead body."

"You'll be surprised at how much you're underestimating me," Anakin chuckles, curling the Clone back up to his chest. "Grab my hand with both of yours. It'll be easier to get you up there. Then politely let Skips there cuff you."

The Clone groans and eyes the abyss for a second, before reaching up and taking Anakin's metal wrist with both of his hands. The Clone rises in the air, lifting his legs to get a grip on the platform but then —

— the metal slips from Anakin's stub.

The Clone falls fast, though things seem to slow down as he falls past General Skywalker. Anakin purses his lips, his eyes narrowed in blissful pleasure. "_Oopsie-doodle!_" Anakin chirps.

Then the Clone falls to his death.

Ahsoka is close enough to see the whole thing unfold, and it — it hurts so much. She doubles over, clutching her chest. She's scared. But Anakin's doleful eyes look up at her, tilting his head back and she sees the boyish charm smirking at her.

"Sorry Skips, couldn't help it," Anakin shrugs, lifting himself back onto the platform with ease. He crosses his legs and pats her on the shoulder. "What's wrong? You're upset. Listen, he wasn't going to tell us anything, the Kimonos programmed those guys to — "

"It's fine, Anakin."

Her voice is cold. So cold it even gives her chills. So cold she can't bare to look at someone else hearing her sound like this. She gets up, and without a second glance, walks back to the ship.

Anakin bites his lip in a panic and — well, she can't see him do that, but the nervous shimmer in his voice makes it easy to imagine. He stands behind her with outstretched arms, calling out, "Skips! Come on! It was funny, and — "

She claps one boot against the side of the ship and bows her head.

"Anakin. I don't ever want to talk about this again."

**Author's Note:**

> I know this isn't the darkest possible thing. I was aiming more for a 'anakin is kind of a sociopath' and 'ahsoka doesn't know what to do' sort of thing. It's bleak. I hope this is satisfying for you.
> 
> You can [follow me on Twitter](https://twitter.com/IAmLordMeatwad) for tweets about my cats and fanfic, and [follow me on Insta](https://www.instagram.com/katrinajagelski/) for similar stuff. Occasionally I do live reads for my original fiction and fanfic.


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